Law's repeal allows youth to turn lives around

Thursday

Illinois youths are benefiting from the 2005 repeal of a state law that automatically sent certain juvenile drug offenders to adult court, according to a new report released Thursday.

Illinois youths are benefiting from the 2005 repeal of a state law that automatically sent certain juvenile drug offenders to adult court, according to a new report released Thursday.

Repeal of the "automatic transfer" law has provided hundreds of youths with the chance to turn their lives around, says the report from the Illinois Juvenile Justice Initiative.

Being tried in juvenile court, rather than adult court, enables young offenders to "escape the cycle of crime and incarceration," Betsy Clarke, president of the Juvenile Justice Initiative, said in a telephone news conference.

Under the now-outdated law, 15- and 16-year-olds had to be tried as adults for drug offenses that took place within 1,000 feet of a school or public housing site.

The report breaks down its data into two areas: Cook County and the rest of Illinois. No other county-specific information is available. The automatic-transfer law was rarely used outside of Cook County, the report said.

Cook County Public Defender Edwin Burnette said it’s hard to go anywhere in Chicago that is not within 1,000 feet of a school or public housing facility.

Certain offenses by a juvenile, such as murder, automatically get transferred to adult court. The law states that any crime in which someone who is age 15 or older uses a handgun must go to adult court. The same goes for sexual crimes in which the accused is at least 15 years old and the victim is younger than 9.

Peoria County Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Spokely, who heads the juvenile division, said he can’t remember the automatic provision being used and if it was, it involved only a handful of youths over the past decade or more.

State’s Attorney Kevin Lyons’ office tried in summer 2006 to transfer a juvenile drug case to adult court, but a judge left the matter in juvenile court.

In that case, police caught a 16-year-old boy with 180 grams of crack cocaine and a significant amount of marijuana in his backpack. Crack normally is sold in quantities of less than one gram.

Adriana Colindres can be reached at (217) 782-6292 or adriana.colindres@sj-r.com. Andy Kravetz can be reached at 686-3283 or akravetz@pjstar.com.

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